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Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on April 20, 1808 and died on January 9, 1873. Napoleon was a great strategist in battle and was the Emperor of France from 1804 to 1814. He tried to extend his Empire all over Europe and mostly succeeded until he tried to Conquer Russia. He is responsible for over 3 million deaths and is labeled by some people as the first Antichrist because of this. Napoléon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769 – May 5, 1821) was a French statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again briefly in 1815 during the Hundred Days. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. He is considered one of the greatest commanders in history, and his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy has endured as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history. He was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family of Italian ancestry from the minor nobility. He was serving as an artillery officer in the French army when the French Revolution erupted in 1789. He rapidly rose through the ranks of the military, seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution and becoming a general at age 24. The French Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents. At age 26, he began his first military campaign against the Austrians and their Italian allies—winning virtually every battle, conquering the Italian Peninsula in a year, and becoming a war hero in France. In 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He orchestrated a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic. His ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and he became the first Emperor of the French in 1804. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered this coalition with decisive victories in the Ulm Campaign and a historic triumph over the Russian Empire and Austrian Empire at the Battle of Austerlitz which led to the Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched his Grande Armée deep into Eastern Europe and annihilated the Russians in June 1807 at the Battle of Friedland. France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire. In 1809, the Austrians and the British challenged the French again during the War of the Fifth Coalition, but Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after triumphing at the Battle of Wagram in July. Napoleon then invaded the Iberian Peninsula, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, and declared his brother Joseph Bonaparte the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support. The Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia. The Russians were unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade and routinely violated the Continental System, enticing Napoleon into another war. The French launched a major invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The campaign destroyed Russian cities but resulted in the collapse of the Grande Armée and inspired a renewed push against Napoleon by his enemies. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in the War of the Sixth Coalitionagainst France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, but his tactical victory at the minor Battle of Hanau allowed retreat onto French soil. The Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba off the coast of Tuscany, and the Bourbon dynasty was restored to power. However, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition which defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo in June. The British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51. Napoleon's influence on the modern world brought liberal reforms to the numerous territories that he conquered and controlled, such as the Low Countries, Switzerland, and large parts of modern Italy and Germany. He implemented fundamental liberal policies in France and throughout Western Europe. His Napoleonic Code has influenced the legal systems of more than 70 nations around the world. British historian Andrew Roberts states: "The ideas that underpin our modern world—meritocracy, equality before the law, property rights, religious toleration, modern secular education, sound finances, and so on—were championed, consolidated, codified and geographically extended by Napoleon. To them he added a rational and efficient local administration, an end to rural banditry, the encouragement of science and the arts, the abolition of feudalism and the greatest codification of laws since the fall of the Roman Empire". Quotes Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich. A leader is a dealer in hope. Victory belongs to the most persevering. An army marches on its stomach. Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools. Imagination rules the world. Ability is nothing without opportunity. History is a set of lies agreed upon. Titles and styles * 1769 – 1790: Nobile Napoleone Buonaparte * 1790 – 1799: Citizen Napoleon Bonaparte * 1779 – September 1785: Officer Cadet Napoleon Bonaparte * September 1785 – 1st April 1791: Second Lieutenant Napoleon Bonaparte, La Fere Artillery Regiment * April 1st 1791 – February 6 1792: First Lieutenant Napoleon Bonaparte, La Fere Artillery Regiment * February 6 1792 – July 1793: Captain Napoleon Bonaparte * October 18 1792 – December 22 1793: Major Napoleon Bonaparte * December 22 1793 – 12 December 1799: Brigadier General Napoleon Bonaparte * 12 December 1799 – 18 May 1804: Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic * 26 January 1802 – 17 March 1805: Napoleon Bonaparte, President of the Italian Republic * 18 May 1804 – 11 April 1814: His Imperial Majesty The Emperor of the French ** 17 March 1805 – 11 April 1814: His Imperial and Royal Majesty The Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Mediator of the Helvetic Confederation * 11 April 1814 – 20 March 1815: His Imperial Majesty The Sovereign of the Island of Elba) * 20 March 1815 – 22 June 1815: His Imperial Majesty The Emperor of the French * 22 June 1815 - 5 May 1821: Brigadier General Napoleon Bonaparte